Millions of people throughout the world now use the Internet as a faster and more cost-effective means of communication than previous methods of communication. Many see its potential as a medium for business. However only a very small percentage is yet able to use the Internet for business. The vast majority of Internet users cannot use the Internet for business because there is no readily available, electronic business (“e-business”) system that can easily, safely, and affordably be adopted by the masses. The Internet (and the World Wide Web) is based on communications standards. However, an acceptable standard for wide-scale e-business has yet to be established.
If the world is going to make the transition to e-business, there must be a safe, secure, affordable and ubiquitous way for businesses large and small, to do e-business. There must be an effective e-business system based on enforceable laws that establish a level playing field for all users. The system must not only be affordable and appropriate, but it must be extremely user friendly. To be highly user friendly means that it must incorporate a high level of artificial intelligence. This means that it must be compatible with the way people think and do business.
To build such a system, there must also be a way to integrate the many and varied ways of business, including tying all the front office and back office functions together.
Without such a system, e-business will remain limited to the few who understand the increasingly complicated technology and those few who can afford to acquire that knowledge. Business-to-business sites were found by the Gartner Group to cost about $1.2 million to develop and to take at least six months to build. The custom coding of infrastructure is the biggest cost and time factor.
It should be noted, however, that even the minority that is now capable of using the Internet for business is now increasingly experiencing guerrilla style “hacker” attacks that are turning the Internet into a place of anarchy. Even Microsoft was successfully hacked in late 2000.
This is happening because there is no way to establish law and order on the Internet. The open architecture of the Internet works against any attempt to stifle free expression regardless of how such freedom is interpreted or expressed as Microsoft and even the most powerful governments in the world have found. Such unfettered freedom is not conducive to business. Business relies on enforceable law and order.